Ellen ES Ceely

Today I finished the first edits of A Curse of Feathers & Fools.

I feel excited, happy, and relieved.

I can tell as I’m editing how much my writing has transformed over the years and how I’ve grown as a writer. I’m much quicker to change a phrase so it’s more concise and uses less filler words when editing than I used to be. If the thing that needs to be said can be said with 2 words instead of 3, that’s what I’ll do. My sentences end up shorter and more descriptive. The only times I choose to use more words, is when I believe it will add something to the story. There’s a set purpose for the language I use, rather than trying to make the story as flowery or lengthy as possible.

Tomorrow I might take some time to transfer the edits onto the computer since I did them all by hand. I need to get the story sent off to Beta Readers.

I also did some gardening today. I planted a whole bunch of green beans and carrots. Hopefully I’ll get a nice harvest this August. My tomatoes are starting to turn yellow and orange, and new buds are forming.

I finished the day by quilting this evening. I made a friend at church and she let me borrow a quilting book/pattern. I’ve been enjoying making a couple squares at night whenever possible. There’s a satisfying, soothing nature to quilting. I told my husband it’s my version of doing a puzzle.

There were other things I could have done today. I could’ve vacuumed and mopped and cleaned the shower. But those things can wait another couple of days. As Amie Mcnee on Instagram would say: muggle sh*t later. It’s okay to take time to create the art. The writing is my passion, but it’s also my job and it’s time I take it seriously. The gardening and quilting feed my soul. Cleaning will always be there. It’s not going anywhere and the house is far from disgusting. It’ll wait until this weekend.

I also got back on social media and started posting. As per usual, I did okay on TikTok and did terribly on Instagram. This has always been the case for me. Meta and I do not see eye-to-eye. Some of it probably has to do with me not having an iPhone (they purposefully make Android content look terrible to iPhone users). Some of it, I’m sure, is that I just don’t understand Instagram and possibly never will.

I’ll keep posting there as well as Facebook. But I think my time and energy are better spent on TikTok and blogging.

Soon I hope to test some paid advertising. I’m nervous about that. But I think it’s worth a try. Just have to start small and do it!

Okay, I’ve blabbed on for long enough tonight. If you’re reading this, thank you. If there’s anything you’d like to hear about being an indie author, a quilter, or a beginner gardener, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note!

Until next time.